Fastän det blåste lite ville mormor sitta kvar, eftersom saften fortfarande var kall.

Fastän means although / even though. It introduces a contrast:

• Fastän det blåste lite = Although it was blowing a little
• main idea: ville mormor sitta kvar = grandma wanted to stay seated

So the sentence structure is basically:

• Although X, Y
• Fastän ..., ville ...

It is a very common way to connect two ideas where one might seem surprising in relation to the other.

This is because Swedish follows the V2 rule in main clauses. V2 means the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

Here, the sentence starts with a subordinate clause:

• Fastän det blåste lite

That whole chunk counts as the first element. So in the main clause, the verb must come next:

• ville mormor sitta kvar

So:

• Fastän det blåste lite, ville mormor sitta kvar = correct
• Fastän det blåste lite, mormor ville sitta kvar = not correct in standard Swedish word order

This is one of the most important word-order patterns in Swedish.

Here det is a dummy subject, similar to English it in weather expressions:

• it was raining
• it was snowing
• it was windy / it blew

In Swedish, weather verbs often use det the same way:

• Det regnade = It was raining
• Det snöade = It was snowing
• Det blåste = It was blowing / It was windy

So det does not refer to a specific thing. It is just required grammatically.

Blåste is the past tense of blåsa, which can mean to blow. In weather contexts, it means the wind was blowing or it was windy.

lite means a little / somewhat.

So:

• det blåste lite = it was blowing a little
• more naturally in English: it was a little windy

Mormor means maternal grandmother — literally, your mother’s mother.

Swedish makes a distinction:

• mormor = mother’s mother
• farmor = father’s mother

There is no article here because mormor is being used almost like a name or family role, similar to:

• Mom
• Grandma
• Dad

So ville mormor sitta kvar is like Grandma wanted to stay seated.

If you were speaking more generally, you might say:

• en mormor = a grandmother
• min mormor = my grandmother

Sitta kvar literally means sit remaining, but in natural English it usually means:

• stay seated
• remain sitting
• stay where one is sitting

So:

• ville mormor sitta kvar = grandma wanted to stay seated

The word kvar often adds the idea of remaining or staying behind/in place.

Compare:

• sitta = to sit
• sitta kvar = to keep sitting / stay seated
• vara kvar = to remain / still be there

Eftersom means because / since and introduces the reason:

• eftersom saften fortfarande var kall = because the juice was still cold

It is a straightforward way to explain why grandma wanted to stay seated.

You could compare:

• fastän = although
• eftersom = because

So the sentence has both:

• a contrast: although it was a little windy
• a reason: because the juice was still cold

Because eftersom introduces a subordinate clause, Swedish usually keeps the subject before the verb, and sentence adverbs like fortfarande often come before the finite verb.

So the order is:

• eftersom
  • saften
    • fortfarande
      • var
        • kall

That gives:

• because
  • the juice
    • still
      • was
        • cold

This is different from the main clause, where Swedish follows the V2 rule.

So compare:

• main clause: ville mormor sitta kvar
• subordinate clause: eftersom saften fortfarande var kall

Fortfarande means still.

In this sentence:

• saften fortfarande var kall = the juice was still cold

In subordinate clauses, words like fortfarande often come before the finite verb:

• eftersom saften fortfarande var kall

In a main clause, the position can be different because of Swedish word-order rules.

Because saften is a common-gender noun (en word), and the adjective here agrees with it.

• en saft (common gender)
• therefore: saften var kall

If the noun were a neuter noun (ett word), you would use kallt:

• ett hus → huset var kallt

So:

• saften var kall = correct
• saften var kallt = incorrect

The sentence is describing a situation in the past, so the verbs are in past tense:

• blåste = blew / was blowing
• ville = wanted
• var = was

This creates a consistent past-time frame:

• It was a little windy
• grandma wanted to stay seated
• the juice was still cold

Also note that ville is the past tense of vilja (to want), and var is the past tense of vara (to be). Both are very common verbs, and both are irregular.

Yes, sometimes. Similar options include:

• även om = even if / even though
• trots att = despite the fact that / although

But they are not always identical in tone or usage.

For example:

• Fastän det blåste lite...
• Även om det blåste lite...
• Trots att det blåste lite...

All can work in similar contexts, but fastän is a very natural, common choice for although.

The comma after kvar helps separate the main clause from the eftersom clause:

• Fastän det blåste lite ville mormor sitta kvar, eftersom saften fortfarande var kall.

In Swedish, comma use is sometimes a bit more flexible than in English, especially with subordinate clauses. So you may see variation. But the comma here is helpful and natural because it makes the structure easier to read.